The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for sweeping immigration raids in Los Angeles, overturning a federal judge’s order that had barred officers from making stops without “reasonable suspicion.” The 6-3 conservative-majority ruling is a significant win for President Donald Trump, who has promised record-level deportations of undocumented migrants.
The decision allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to carry out stops while considering factors such as race, language, or occupation, although Chief Justice Brett Kavanaugh stressed that ethnicity alone cannot justify a stop. “It can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors,” he wrote in the majority opinion.
The three liberal justices strongly dissented. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that countless individuals in Los Angeles have been “grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact they make a living by doing manual labour.” She warned the ruling would subject even more people to these indignities.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, criticized the decision, calling it “dangerous, un-American, and a threat to the fabric of personal freedom in the United States.” The ruling lifts a temporary restraining order issued by US District Judge Maame E. Frimpong, who had highlighted extensive evidence suggesting that the raids violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Judge Frimpong’s order had barred stops based solely on race, language, presence at specific locations, or type of work. It also cited concerns that immigrants were being denied access to legal counsel during ICE operations.
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The Supreme Court’s ruling, while limited to the temporary restraining order, signals that the administration’s actions have a strong chance of being upheld as constitutional. Lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security argued that officers are targeting individuals based on legal status, not race or ethnicity, and that Judge Frimpong’s restrictions impeded ICE operations.
The Trump administration launched the Los Angeles raids in June, arresting migrants at workplaces including Home Depot. Protests erupted, prompting Trump to deploy nearly 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines without state approval—a move later deemed illegal by a federal court.
The administration is now reportedly considering similar federal enforcement operations in other cities, including Washington, DC, and possibly Chicago, as part of its broader law-and-order agenda.